It took political Washington a good six months to catch up to the fact that something significant was happening in Iraq's Anbar province, where the former-insurgent Sunni tribes switched sides and joined the fight against al-Qaeda. Not surprisingly, Washington has not yet caught up to the next reality: Iraq is being partitioned -- and, like everything else in Iraq today, it is happening from the ground up.

ahh so right-wing thinking now is that US forces shepherd in partition which may be the best solution I agree but thus Balkcanization with Baghdad playing the role of Sarajevo and so further one wonders who destiny has its eye on to revisit the role of Archduke Ferdinand and spark the next conflagration (let's look towards decaying empires and autocrats -- the Saudis would seem to be the prime candidates)

Charles Krauthammer - The Partitioning of Iraq - washingtonpost.com